Parents often place their children into baby joggers, bike trailers, walking strollers and car seats for transport, exercise and outdoor enjoyment, even in cold weather. A blanket will keep the child sufficiently warm, however, blankets often fall off the child during movement or get kicked off by wiggling a child. A challenge existed between needing to keep a child warm, and wanting to allow for perceived full leg movement, leg crossing and easy entry and exit from the blanket.
Some blankets form pockets that encompass a user from the feet to the torso. Such full-pocket blankets are difficult to apply to a sitting child and may also irritate the child. To apply a full-pocket blanket, for example, a parent first places the child into a car seat. Next, the parent pulls the rim of the full-pocket blanket up over the feet and up around the exposed legs. Once the parent reaches the point where the child's legs meet the car seat, the parent lifts the child's legs and buttocks and simultaneously pulls the rim of the full-pocket blanket up towards and around the child's waist.
As a result of the height of the flu-pocket, the parent is forced to lift a majority of the weight of the child, which may potentially cause back injury to the parent and may agitate or awaken a resting child. Additionally, a child's skin may be irritated and a rash may develop on a child's leg or lower back where the child's leg meets the rim of the pocket. The irritation may be caused by the weight and movement of the child pressing against the discontinuity between the seat and the rim or edge of the blanket. Further, the full-pocket blanket may bind and clump resulting in discomfort to a child's leg or back.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a blanket, which may be used on a user in a baby jogger, bike trailer, walking stroller or car seat that provides warmth, allows ease of application and removal, and provides extensive freedom of movement for a seated user. It is a further object of the invention to provide a blanket having minimal leg restrictions. It is still a further object of the invention to provide a blanket that is intuitive to use and may be applied and removed easily and quickly.
Further objects will become apparent from the drawings and the following description and claims.